Every year on February 2, people all over North America crowd around prophesying, furry rodents in honour of Groundhog Day. According to legend, if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on that day and sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter. (Or at least an excellent 1993 movie starring Bill Murray).

Below, a cheat sheet to everyone’s favourite day devoted to one of the world’s most dubious weathermen.

Like New Year’s Eve, Groundhog Day predictions don’t happen all at the same time – they sweep across North America in a wave of bucktoothed prophecies.

The earliest forecast in Canada on Tuesday comes from Shubenacadie Sam, in Nova Scotia’s Shubenacadie Provincial Wildlife park, at precisely 8 a.m. AT. Next up? Ontario’s famous Wiarton Willie (the Canadian answer to the U.S.’s famed Punxsutawney Phil – our Muhammad Ali to their George Foreman), followed by Alberta’s Balzac Billy.

According to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, Groundhog Day is a popular tradition in the U.S. and Canada that can trace its origins to Candlemas Day, when the Christian clergy in Europe would bless and distribute candles, marking the end of winter. In England, there was a proverb that said: “If Candlemas be fair and bright, Come, Winter, have another flight. If Candlemas brings clouds and rain, Go Winter, and come not again.”

The Roman legions, in one of their various conquests, brought the Candlemas tradition to Germany, where the Germans decided that if a hedgehog saw its shadow on Candlemas there would be six more weeks of bad weather. When German settlers – some of the first people to populate Pennsylvania – hoped the pond they found an abundance of groundhogs in Pennsylvania, and transferred their weather-prognosticating animal beliefs to the groundhog.

In his 2003 book Groundhog Day,Don Yoder says Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Penn., can be traced back as far as 1886.

Why is Punxsutawney Phil so famous?

He’s immortal! Well, not really. But when the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club was founded in 1887, it named Phil as its furry augur. Since then, the club’s inner circle has been feeding Phil a “magic elixir of life” (which looks like a groundhog-sized beer keg) every summer that they claim extends Phil’s life by seven years every time he drinks it. (In reality, of course, a series of successive rodents have dwelled in Phil’s burrow). So, in Groundhog world, Phil is 126 years old. His ceremony also takes place in a location named Gobbler’s Knob. No comment.

How does Phil himself feel about all this?

In 2010, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wrote an open letter on their blog asking the people of Punxsutawney to replace the legendary Punxsutawney Phil with a robot groundhog. PETA said Phil is on display at a local library year-round, can’t hibernate, and when groundhog day arrives he is confronted by “large, screaming crowds, flashing lights of cameras, and human handling.” Punxsutawney continued on with their non-electronic groundhog.